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Thomas Gray to James Brown, [25 October 1764]

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Dear Sir

I am returned from Southampton, since Monday last; have been at Salisbury, Wilton, Stonehenge, and where not, and am not at all the worse for my expedition. Delly has been here, and talks of going to Cambridge on Wednesday, if you want him; but, if you do not, would be glad to be prevented by a letter. His intention is only to stay there a day or two. He asked me for my rooms, but as I had (intentionally) promised them to Mr. Mapletoft, I answered as if I had actually been engaged on that head, and had already wrote to you to say so. If Mr. Mapletoft does not come, they are at Mr. Delly's service.

The present news is that Lady Harriet Wentworth (Lord Rockingham's sister), not a young or a beautiful maiden, has married her servant, an Irish footman.

Mr. [M:], who has been in Yorkshire, has seen the future bride. She has just such a nose as Mason has himself; so you see it was made in heaven.

The rent-roll of the present Duke of Devonshire's estate is £44,000 a-year. Lord Richard has better than £4000 a-year; Lady Dorothy £30,000; a legacy of £500 to General Conway; £500 apiece to the three brothers, and they are appointed guardians, and, I think, executors – business enough, in conscience. To-day I hear the Cambridge affair is compromised, and Lord Hardwicke to come in quietly. This I should not give credit to had I not heard it before I came from thence. The Duke of Cumberland, they say, is in a very good way: it is strange to me if he recovers.

I will write soon again, and try to tell you more, for I shall stay in town about a fortnight longer. You will oblige me if you will send to inquire how Dolly Antrobus does.

Adieu.–I am ever yours.
Letter ID: letters.0447 (Source: TEI/XML)

Correspondents

Writer: Gray, Thomas, 1716-1771
Writer's age: 47
Addressee: Brown, James, 1709-1784
Addressee's age: 55[?]

Dates

Date of composition: [25 October 1764]
Date (on letter): Thursday, October 25, 1764
Calendar: Gregorian

Places

Place of composition: [London, United Kingdom]
Address (on letter): Jermyn Street

Content

Language: English
Incipit: I am returned from Southampton, since Monday last; have been at Salisbury,...
Mentioned: Conway, Henry Seymour, 1721-1795
Mason, William, 1724-1797
Salisbury
Southampton
Stonehenge
Wilton

Holding Institution

Availability: The original letter is unlocated, a copy, transcription, or published version survives

Print Versions

  • The Correspondence of Thomas Gray and William Mason, with Letters to the Rev. James Brown, D.D. Ed. by the Rev. John Mitford. London: Richard Bentley, 1853, letter LXXXVII, 331-333
  • The Letters of Thomas Gray, including the correspondence of Gray and Mason, 3 vols. Ed. by Duncan C. Tovey. London: George Bell and Sons, 1900-12, letter no. CCLXII, vol. iii, 47-48
  • Correspondence of Thomas Gray, 3 vols. Ed. by the late Paget Toynbee and Leonard Whibley, with corrections and additions by H. W. Starr. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1971 [1st ed. 1935], letter no. 394, vol. ii, 847-849